Hosea 3

And the Lord said to me: Go again, love a woman loved by a friend and an adulteress, as the Lord loves the sons of Israel; and they look to other gods, and love the husks of grapes. LXX: And the Lord said to me: Go again and love a woman who loves evil things and an adulteress, as the Lord loves the sons of Israel; and they look to other gods, and love cooked cakes with grape-husks. To the former woman the prophet is joined as a type of the ten tribes, or of the whole Jewish people playing the harlot, and at length he received back into salvation the children who had been cast off and tormented; here he is ordered to love an adulterous woman again. When it is said: again, does it show that he had loved a fornicatress before, who as an adulteress either loves those evil things or is loved by a friend and neighbor? For the Hebrew word Re is read either as evil or as friend. And lest we should think that the prophet's love for the adulteress signifies anything other than God's love for the sons of Israel, he added: as the Lord loves the sons of Israel. Therefore the fact that the prophet loves the adulteress, and yet is not joined to her in marriage nor united with her in fornication, but only loves the woman who does wrong, is a type of God, who loves the most wicked sons of Israel; and they, though they are loved by the Lord, look to other gods and idols, and love the husks of grapes, which have no wine; and they have lost their former grace, like the demons, who, having fallen from their own dignity and possessing nothing of their ancient grace, are dry and withering in an old dryness. Hence for husks, which in Hebrew is called asise, Aquila translated παλαιὰ, that is, old things; Symmachus ἀκάρπους, that is, barren; and they are not only husks, but old husks, so that they bear witness to ancient offenses. And it is to be noted that this adulteress signifies the present time of the Jews, who, without God and the knowledge of the Scriptures and the grace of the Holy Spirit, are loved by the Lord, who awaits the salvation of all and opens the door to those who repent; and nevertheless they love useless things, loving the traditions of men and the dreams of the δευτερωσέων (of the 'secondary teachings', the Jewish traditions), and by no means have grapes and wine and winepresses full of must, but old husks which have been thrown away. For the pemmata, which the LXX translated, and which are eaten with raisins or grape-husks, we can say in Latin flat-cakes, or pastries, which are offered to idols and are called in Greek πόπανα (cakes). But the sons of Israel in the present passage are called the twelve tribes; above, however, the ten which were in Samaria and possessed the metropolis, Jezreel.

These then are that seven and eight whereof Hosea says that by that number he purchased to himself, and acquired the fulness of faith, for thus it is written, So I bought her to me for fifteen pieces of silver, and for an homer of barley, and an half homer of barley, and a measure of wine. But in the former verses God had commanded him to hire to himself an harlot, and it is manifest that he did so, in that he has mentioned the price of her hiring. Now the fifteen pieces of silver are made up of the numbers seven and eight, wherefore they represent these numbers.

And how shall I speak of the whore married by the prophet? She is the figure either of the church as gathered in from the Gentiles, or—an interpretation that better suits the passage—of the synagogue. She, Israel, was first adopted from among the idolaters by Abraham and Moses. She has now denied the Savior and proved unfaithful to him. Therefore she has long been deprived of her altar, priests and prophets and has to abide many days to return to her first husband. For when the faithfulness of the Gentiles shall be fulfilled, all Israel shall be saved.

And I dug her for myself for fifteen pieces of silver, and a cor of barley, and half a cor of barley, and I said to her: Many days you will wait for me; you will not play the harlot, and you will not be for a man; but I also will wait for you. LXX: And I hired her for myself for fifteen pieces of silver, and a gomor of barley, and a nebel of wine, and I said to her: Many days you will sit for me; and you will not play the harlot, nor will you be for another man, and I for you. For gomor, in the Hebrew is written omer, which all the translators, except the LXX, have rendered cor, a word Greek and especially Palestinian, which holds thirty modii. And for nebel of wine, in the Hebrew is read lethech seorim, which the other translators rendered ἡμίκορον of barley, that is, half a cor, which makes fifteen modii. And what is added in the common edition: Nor will you be for another man; another is not found in the Hebrew, but simply you will not be for a man. For if another is put, it is understood that she is had by her own husband. But when it is said absolutely you will not be for a man, we understand that she is joined to no one at all, and is without marital intercourse. Now the measure of the cor we read in Ezekiel, and in the Gospel. So he dug her for himself, that is, the adulteress, or hired her for fifteen pieces of silver. When he says: I dug, he points to the vineyard which was planted by the Lord and is set down in many places of the Scriptures, signifying the people of the Jews. But if we read: I hired, it is the price of an adulteress, not so that she may sleep with the prophet, but so that, content with her wage, she may cease committing adultery and not be joined here and there to others. She is also dug, or hired, for a cor of barley and half a cor of barley, that is, for forty-five modii; and having received this wage, she heard from the Lord: Many days you will wait for me, or you will sit for me; you will not play the harlot nor be for a man. That is: neither will you shamefully prostitute yourself to other lovers, nor will you be lawfully joined to me, the man by whom you were hired. And lest you think a wrong has been done to you because I said: you will wait for me, I will repay like for like: and I also will wait for you. As the fifteenth day of the month Nisan was dawning, the firstborn of the Egyptians were struck, and the people of Israel was led out of Egypt and hired for a wage into the service of God. Finally, for the firstborn of Israel, which did not feel the common plague, take five shekels of silver each, which are contributed to the gifts of the temple. Most of our writers refer the fifteen to the hebdomad of the law and the ogdoad of the Gospel, that is, the Sabbath and the day of the resurrection, on which spiritual circumcision is practiced. But how an adulterous woman who is fed on barley and is estranged from her husband should receive both testaments as her wage, they cannot explain. On the forty-fifth day the people came to Mount Sinai, and at once on the next day they were commanded to sanctify themselves from intercourse with women for three days, and to prepare themselves to receive the law of God. When the three days had passed, on the fiftieth day Moses went up the mountain and received the Decalogue. So the people of the Jews, which was once hired for fifteen pieces of silver and forty-five modii of barley, has sat since the coming of the Lord the Savior, and awaits the coming of its husband. And when he says: You will not play the harlot, and you will not be for a man, he shows this: that in the meantime she does not now serve idols, and yet does not have God, but has been stripped both of her lovers and of her husband. And because she has no husband, she does not eat the food of men, grain and pulse, but the barley of irrational beasts of burden, chewing over the cheapness of the letter which kills, and not having the spirit which gives life. Hence also in the law, the woman who is accused of adultery by her husband, in the drink of ἐλεγμοῦ, that is, of conviction, when she is proved guilty of sin, receives barley meal; for she who has imitated horses and mules, which have no understanding, is sustained on the food of horses and mules. For half a cor of barley the Seventy translated a nebel of wine, which is not found in the Hebrew at all. And we can say: that in the nebel of wine, that is, a full and finished measure, the adulteress was made drunk and afflicted with full punishments. Hence Jeremiah too gives the cup of unmixed wine to drink to the nations and to Jerusalem. The husband also sits, or rather waits for the repentance of the adulteress, so that after the fullness of the Gentiles has come in, and Israel has believed last, so that what had been the head is turned into the tail, and the tail is turned into the head, then there may be one flock and one shepherd.

For many days the sons of Israel will sit without a king, and without a prince, and without sacrifice, and without altar, and without ephod, and without teraphim. And after this the sons of Israel will return and will seek the Lord their God and David their king; and they will tremble before the Lord and before his goodness in the last of days. LXX: For many days the sons of Israel will sit without a king, without a prince, without sacrifice, without altar, without priesthood, without manifestations, — which in Greek are called δῆλοι —. And after this the sons of Israel will return, and will seek the Lord their God, and David their king; and they will be astonished before the Lord, and at his good things on the last day. For ephod and teraphim the Seventy translated ἱερατείαν, that is, priesthood, and δήλους, that is, manifestations. Now it should be known, as we have often said, that ephod signifies a priestly garment, which in Exodus and Leviticus is called by the LXX ἐπωμὶς, that is, the shoulder-piece, and by Aquila ἐπένδυμα, that is, the over-garment. Teraphim, however, properly means μορφώματα, that is, figures and images, which we can say, in the present passage at least, are the cherubim and seraphim or the other things which were ordered to be made for the adornment of the temple. But since the Seventy translated δήλους, for which Aquila rendered φωτισμούς (illuminations), and these very things are in the λογείῳ, that is, in the rational, we understand this: that in the breast and heart of the high priest there ought to be ἀλήθεια and φωτισμοί, that is, truth and teaching, so that he may not only know the right faith, but may also be able to bring forth with his mouth what he knows. This the apostle Paul also writes to Titus, teaching what kind of man should be ordained bishop: For a bishop must be without crime, as the steward of God; not proud, not quick to anger, not given to wine, not a striker and not greedy for shameful gain; but hospitable, kind, sober, just, holy, continent, embracing the faithful word which is according to doctrine, so that he may be able both to exhort in sound doctrine and to refute those who contradict. Ephod and teraphim we also read of in the book of Judges, which the Levite had made for himself, who afterwards set out with six hundred armed men of the tribe of Dan. From the passion of the Lord the Savior up to the present day, almost the four hundredth year is being completed, and how much time remains until the day of judgment neither the angels know nor the Son. He says that he does not know for this reason, because it is not expedient for us to learn. These, then, are the many days in which the unhappy Synagogue and adulterous woman is fed on barley, and has sat huddled, because she cannot stand with Christ. Without a king, of whom the Father spoke: I have raised up a king with justice. And he himself says in the psalm: But I have been appointed king by him over Zion, his holy mountain. Without a prince: either the Lord the Savior himself, or at least the high priest, of whom it is written: You shall not curse the prince of your people. And without sacrifice, and without altar. For since the temple was overthrown, and Jerusalem was burnt, the Jewish nation can carry on neither sacrifice nor priesthood. And without ephod and without teraphim, that is, the instruments of the priestly dress. Of this king Jacob too speaks in the blessing of the patriarch Judah: A prince shall not fail from Judah, nor a leader from his thighs, until he comes for whom it is laid up; and he will be the expectation of the nations. Therefore, after the prince failed from Judah, and the leader from his thighs, and Herod, a foreigner and a proselyte, took the rule, we understand that he has come for whom the kingdom was laid up, and he will be the expectation of the nations.

The present section some of the Jews interpret of the Babylonian captivity, when the temple was desolate for seventy years, and there were no altar and victims and priesthood, and afterwards under Zerubbabel they returned to their former seats. Others, like us, defer it to the future time; and what is the cause of so great an offense, that they have been abandoned for so long a time, especially since they do not worship idols, they cannot find any other than the killing of the Savior.

I ask therefore on what day the manna began to be given from heaven, and I wish to compare our Lord's day with the sabbath of the Jews. For from the divine scriptures it appears that the manna was first given upon the earth on the Lord's day. For if, as Scripture says, it was gathered for six continuous days, but on the seventh day, which is the sabbath, there was a cessation, without doubt its beginning was from the first day, which is the Lord's day. But if from the divine scriptures this is established, that on the Lord's day God rained the manna and on the sabbath he did not rain it, let the Jews understand that even then our Lord's day was preferred to the Jewish sabbath, that even then it was indicated that on their sabbath no grace of God came down to them from heaven, that no heavenly bread, which is the word of God, came to them. For the prophet says also elsewhere: "for many days the children of Israel shall sit without king, without prince, without prophet, without victim, without sacrifice, without priest". But on our Lord's day the Lord always rains manna from heaven.

For the prophecy was fulfilled that had declared, "For the children of Israel shall abide many days without king and prince. There shall be no victim, nor altar, nor priesthood, nor answers." These testimonies, accordingly, we employ against those who presume to assert that what is spoken in Genesis by Jacob refers to Judah. They say that there still remains a prince of the race of Judah—he, namely, who is the prince of their nation, whom they style patriarch—and that there cannot fail [a ruler] of his seed, who will remain until the advent of that Christ whom they picture themselves. But if the prophet's words are true when he says, "The children of Israel shall abide many days without a king, without prince; and there shall be no victim, nor altar, nor priesthood," and if, certainly, since the overthrow of the temple, victims are neither offered, nor any altar found, nor any priesthood exists. So it is most certain that, as it is written, princes have departed from Judah and a leader from between his thighs, until the coming of him for whom it has been reserved. It is established, then, that he has indeed come from whom it has been reserved and in whom is the expectation of the Gentiles. And this manifestly seems to be fulfilled in the multitude of those who have believed in God through Christ out of the different nations.

But let us hear what Hosea goes on to say: "And after this the children of Israel shall return and shall seek the Lord their God and David their king; and they shall fear the Lord and his goodness in the last days." You will never find a prophecy plainer than this, for the name King David means Christ, who, as Paul says, "was born according to the flesh of the offspring of David." Further on still, Hosea foretold the resurrection of Christ on the third day, but in the mysterious way that is proper to prophecy. He says, "He shall heal us after two days, and on the third day we shall rise up again." This is the theme underlying the words of Paul: "Therefore if you have risen with Christ, seek the things that are above."

This is the blindness which has happened in part to Israel, so that the fullness of the Gentiles might come in, and then all Israel would be saved; and after a long time they will return and will seek the Lord their God, and David their king, who was born of the stock of David, and whose name is interpreted strong of hand. For he himself released the captivity of his people, and gave release to those in bonds. And when the sons of Israel see him, who was denied by his own brothers, reigning in the majesty of the Father and in his own, they will tremble and be astonished before the Lord and before his Good One, he who, a good son, was born of a good father; or to the good things of the Lord, of which the saint speaks: I believe I shall see the good things of the Lord in the land of the living; for this land which we sinners inhabit is the land of the dead.